Bare Witness
by lexlady
Summary: Special Agent Lucas Scott is the best profiler in the FBI, but he doesn’t like to follow the rules. When they bring in straightlaced Doctor Peyton Sawyer to reign him in the only rule they find will be hard to follow is the no fraternization rule.
1. Chapter 1

**I do this all the time. Some people are bad at summaries. I am bad at titles. So I changed the title of this story from _Now I Lay Me Down_ to _Bare_ _Witness._ I'll be updating this from now on. **

**I should probably give a shout out to the X-Files cause I got a lot of ideas are the same, but with a OTH twist guess I could say. I used to write a fanfiction series for the X-Files waaaay back in the day and I'm a little rusty on my FBI and crime scene lingo so bare with me. I don't own anything or anybody, although towards the end of season 4 I wish I owned OTH and not Mark. grrrrrrr...**

_Flashback_

_Tensions were as high as they could be as the stand off between the FBI and the serial killer, Thomas Crow. The ex-cop had left a long and gory trail across the Bible belt, leaving the police gloating riddles and racking up enough bodies and public fear in his wake that the FBI had to be called in._

_He'd been with the bureau for two years by the time Crow had taken his fifth victim and it had been his profile that had led to his identification. The cat and mouse game had finally ended at a warehouse with two agents working on fifeteen hours of sleep apiece and a cold blooded killer with no remorse, nothing to loose, and a hostage._

_His partner had taken the front and he had gone around back after they'd called for appropriate back up._

_He'd had him in his sites. His partner was trying to talk him down._

_"Where's the golden child? Where's my boy!" Crow had cried. He knew he was talking about him. He'd been the first to decipher the riddle Crow had left and eventually put together a profile. He hadn't been sure how Crow had found out that it was him who'd written it, but since that moment, every note since had been left addressed specifically to him, always attached with a safety pin to the victim's bloodied clothing._

_"Crow, there is no way out of here." Sirens. They were coming upon the warehouse. They just needed a few more minutes. "Let that girl go. You have control here, you can walk outta here."_

_"But I'm not done with my work son. You know how it is," Crow had explained calmly over the soft whimpers of his young captive. He had known it was not a safe sign, though. In his profile he'd written Crow could turn on a dime but all he's been thinking was he had to get that little girl out of there. He had to get her out by the book._

_He saw his partner well out of his line of fire and he knew that their back up was there. He could've taken that shot. Crow was agitated. He was getting caged in._

_He could've taken that shot. He'd had it and he knew that Crow wouldn't leave this place without making someone bleed. Crow had one purpose. To fill his quota and this little girl-_

_He could've taken the shot. But he hadn't…and Crow had started firing. He had started firing faster than he'd thought possible. He saw that little girl fall and all hell broke loose._

_

* * *

_

_Two years later_

Her three inch heels clacked loudly and rhythmically against the linoleum floor of the Hoover building, adding themselves to the sounds that made up that building the eight thirty in the morning. Flashing her badge, she checked her gun, walked through the metal detector smiling at the guard who's name she would later learn was Pete.

Stepping onto the elevator she pressed the button she needed and kept her even stare cool and straight forward, ignoring the stares she felt on her back. So was the life of a girl in the boys club. It was why at 5 foot 8 and a half she felt the need to wear heels. It was bad enough she had to prove herself daily because she was a girl, and a blonde and a beautiful one to boot. She'd be damned if she had to look _up _at anybody.

She didn't work her ass off at in the academy to get written off as some air headed twit who some had mistakenly given a badge and a gun. In fact she had graduated at the top of her class, getting her doctorate in forensic pathology just a year before.

She could out shoot every man in her class and was trained in hand to hand combat. It was the reason no one called her the nickname she'd acquired in the Academy to her face. Doctor Stems. She had made the mistake of wearing a skirt one day and the nickname had been born. It was just one more thing she had to fight against, so she began wearing slacks and heels so if any little smart ass wanted to call her Doc Stems they'd have to look up at her or straight into her eyes to do it. She was smart, clear headed, capable, and trying to stay afloat in a sea of testosterone.

She stepped off on her floor and her hand unconsciously smoothing out her hair, which was pulled into a tight no nonsense ponytail, as she made her way to the section chief's office. Adjusting her forest green suit jacket she knocked on the door and opened it after hearing a terse "Enter."

"Section chief Hartman, special agent-"

" Peyton Sawyer," the large man finished for her, looking up at her from his paper work to regard the young woman in front of him. "Your reputation proceeds you agent. You come with the highest recommendations."

"Thank you sir," Peyton replied, graciously. She shook his hand and then sat, crossing her long legs.

"Let's get to the gut of it agent Sawyer. I'm sure you're anxious to see what your new assignment will be. I can tell you it's not quite what you're used to at Quantico."

"I'm sure I'm up for the challenge sir," Peyton replied confidently. Hartman raised an eyebrow at the young woman and nodded.

He wasn't so sure this Sawyer girl would be right for this assignment at all. First off she was far too pretty. Her suit was tailored well and unlike the unflattering, boxy suits some female agents chose to adorn themselves with her suit actually fit her and complimented her shape. She barely had any make up on and then there was the severe ponytail that made his own forehead ache just looking at it.

"Are you familiar with an agent named Lucas Scott?" Peyton was taken aback.

"Yes sir, but purely by reputation. Graduated from Yale with a doctorate in psychology. He's considered one of the best analysts in the bureau. His profile led to the capture of the Sacramento strangler several years ago."

Peyton had never met Lucas Scott. His reputation certainly proceeded him wherever he went, though. Not only was he considered, at a young age, one of the best profilers the bureau had ever seen in years, but he was also a loose cannon. Special Agent Lucas Scott thumbed his nose at rules and was considered FBI's bad boy. He had scared off four partners in the last six months and when he was seen in the halls, his hands were shoved deep into his pockets with his eyes glued to his shoes, gaining him the nickname of Broody at the academy. Peyton had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going.

"We want to partner you with him in the violent crimes section. You'll write field reports tracking Agent Scott's progress."

"With all due respect sir, am I babysitting or just spying?"

Hartman once again rose an eyebrow. This girl had some spunk. Maybe this would work after all. He hid a smirk and replied, "I see you know more about his reputation than you said. Agent Sawyer, Lucas Scott was a damn good agent, but he's a loose cannon. We need someone we trust to keep him line."

"I see." So I'm to be his mother, she thought. The fact that he said Agent Scott _was _a good agent wasn't lost on her either.

"Agent Scott also works on a side project. Are you familiar with Project Hill?"

Peyton felt her blood pressure beginning to rise. She cleared her throat. "Yes sir. I believe it deals with unexplained phenomenon, but I was under the impression that this section of the FBI was an urban myth."

"Not entirely agent Sawyer. These files do deal with…unexplained phenomenon and it is also where many of our unsolved cases get buried. Agent Scott has taken an interest in this cases and has been granted permission to pursue them. Your field reports will also track the validity of these cases."

Peyton kept herself from shaking her head. This was unbelievable. "So this isn't a VCS assignment. I'm being assigned to discredit agent Scott's work on Project Hill."

"We are asking you, as a medical doctor to give us a scientific analysis of your findings agent Sawyer. You know what they say, if it looks bad, it's bad for the FBI. Can we count on you agent Sawyer?"

Peyton rose. She could exactly chuck her size 7's at him and tell him to screw himself. She was a girl in the boy's club and that meant playing the game. "Yes sir."

**I know what some of you are thinking. Sounds a bit like the X-Files. I gotta say that is where my inspiration came from, but this story won't be so much about the paranormal and conspiracies as it will be about the affect the work has on Peyton and Lucas's private lives. **

**Plus, I feel like most of the Leyton stories I read have the same plot. They either A: Haven't seen each other in years and broke up for some obscure reason or B: Haven't seen each other in seven years and now Peyton is back in Tree Hill with the son/daughter she didn't tell Lucas about. It wouldn't be that big a deal if they were all well written and had some creative original twist to it. Not to say some of them aren't well written and made original. When I come across an entertaining story I like, I will review and let the author know.**

**I just wanted to do something compleletely different by Leyton standards and I encourage other Leyton authors to do the same. Thanks!**

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

Peyton stalked down the hall, silently fuming. Project Hill? Project freaking Hill? This had to be some sort of punishment. She couldn't imagine any self respecting agent getting that assignment and not laughing in the face of whoever gave it to them. Project Hill was a joke, a non section. It had been buried so deep within the annals of J. Edger's depths that it was practically a ghost story at the academy.

And then there was being assigned to Special Agent Lucas Scott. She was actually looking forward to meeting him. His brilliance was not to be denied. He had only been twenty four, being recruited by the FBI early out of Yale, but he was one of the greatest minds at the FBI. People who worked with him said it was frightening to watch him get into the head of a killer. It was no wonder he walked the halls in the manner he did, as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

There was much talk of why Lucas Scott did all he could to become a pariah. But, the funniest thing about the agent was that when he began his work at the FBI, he was as green and as straight laced as they came. He had begun his career as the golden boy of the Bureau, but two years later it was like he just got sick of being at the top.

Peyton didn't exactly like the idea of spying, let alone spying on a fellow agent, off his rocker or not. The section chief didn't call it spying in so many words, but she was a smart girl and in this business you had to learn how to read between the lines.

She stepped onto a floor that looked as though it hadn't been used in quite some time. A few agents scampered around here and there like cockroaches in their early stages of infestation. Walking to the very end of the hall she looked up to see the name plate on the door: Special Agent Lucas Scott.

She raised her hand to knock on the door and when she heard no reply she knocked again harder. She stood a moment at a loss as to whether or not she should just walk in or not. He was her senior agent after all.

"You lookin' for Scott?" An agent asked from halfway down the hall.

"Yes," Peyton replied. "Is he in?"

"I don't know, but if he is he might not be able to hear you. He usually has that frickin ipod jammed in his ears."

"Oh." Peyton turned back to the door. "Thank you," she called back, but the agent had already disappeared behind another door. Shrugging, Peyton gingerly turned the door handle and peeked her head inside. He was there, his feet propped up on a low bookcase, leaning dangerously far back in his chair with his back to her. He was indeed, listening to an ipod and she could hear the music from clear across the room. She smiled, recognizing the song as one of her favorite off a Van Halen album.

He was pouring over a file and if he sensed her presence, he chose to ignore it for the time being. Peyton wasn't sure how to alert him to her arrival. Mostly she was worried about scaring him and having him fall backwards out of his chair and cracking his head open. She could see it now: _Yes, Section Chief Hartman, I thought a severe concussion would be the best way to solve your Lucas Scott problem. No need to thank me._

She glanced around the office. It was messy, but an organized messy and she knew that Agent Scott would know exactly where everything was. She saw some basketball paraphernalia on the walls, an old basketball in the corner, a poster of Bigfoot, and noted with a soft smile, a picture on his desk of a dark haired woman and man with a little blonde boy grinning between them. The boy she assumed was Agent Scott, as the man tilting in the chair in front of her was blonde as well.

His thick tawny strands were worn short and slightly spiky. Suddenly, her moment of snooping was interrupted, as he shut the file, righted himself in his chair, and took his ear buds out carefully, and one at a time.

He turned slowly in his chair to meet the visitor he sensed walk into his office earlier.

Neither of them spoke for quite some time and in the back of both their minds they realized how awkwardly long the silence had been. Peyton was embarrassed to find she hadn't taken a breath from the moment Agent Scott laid his piercing blue eyes on her. Well, the adjective Peyton used to describe them was smoldering.

She was only slightly shocked to find that Agent Lucas Scott was an extremely attractive man. There was talk at the academy of how handsome Agent Scott was. In fact she'd heard the word sexy thrown around as well, but Peyton didn't pay attention to that type of gossip. Now she knew that the rumors on that end were true….very, very true. She tried to inconspicuously take in a breath without looking as though she was gasping for much needed air.

Agent Scott was having different thoughts running through his head. He couldn't figure out why his usual witty first greeting wasn't forming. In fact, no thoughts were forming. His body's response to her was completely primordial. She was lovely. With those huge green eyes and long graceful limbs, he had to hand it to the section chief. He sure knew how to pick'em.

"Agent Scott," Peyton finally said, silently patting herself on the back for saying his name without stuttering. "My name is Peyton Sawyer. I've been assigned to work with you."

"So you're the new lion tamer, huh?" Lucas silently applauded himself for not saying something stupid and for not drooling. "You can come in a little closer Agent Sawyer. I'm not sure what they told you about me upstairs, but I don't bite."

Peyton smiled and took a few steps closer and put her hand out for him to shake. He took hold of it, his eyes never leaving her steady gaze, and pumped it firmly.

"I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard quite a bit about you," Peyton said amiably, shaking off the tingling sensation she got when he shook her hand. At her words, Lucas's face suddenly changed, becoming more guarded.

There is a reason they sent a sexy woman to work with you, Luke, he cautioned himself. They had tried this tactic before, but he'd chased her off too with the rest. He hated being a jackass to a lady. His mother had raised him to be a gentleman. But, this woman, Agent Sawyer would be no different from the others. Lucas Scott worked _alone_.

"I'm sure you have," he replied. Peyton's brows furrowed a bit, hearing what she deciphered was a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Um, yes. I read your monograph on serial killers and mob mentality and found it fascinating,"

"Did you?" It was like running into a brick wall. Peyton reminded herself there was a reason he'd gone through several partners in only a few short months. He was being impossible.

"Yes, I did. Your reputation proceeds you Agent Scott-"

"Does it?" was his infuriatingly dry and monotone reply. Peyton's flaring nostrils were the only indication that she was annoyed. He scoffed lightly, and turned his back on her, walking back behind his desk, and picking up a file.

"Despite what you may think, you still remain highly regarded at the academy. We've studied your profiles and your method of wor-"  
"I thought your field of expertise was slicing and dicing," Lucas interrupted. Peyton was momentarily taken aback.

"If you meant to ask if I am a pathologist then, yes. I'm a doctor. That is my field of expertise."

"Oh, I didn't ask you if you were a pathologist. I _know_ you're a pathologist. You graduated at the top of your class at Stanford University. Recruited out of medical school. You wrote your senior thesis on the correlation between music and theories of Einstein. Impressive."

"So what are you profiling me now?"

Lucas paused, noting quickly her raised eyebrow and the slight transference of body weight to the left leg. She was feisty and he only allowed himself the slightest of smiles before replying, cockily,

"It's what I do."

By now Peyton was thoroughly pissed off. This guy was a dick! "If you have any qualms about my qualifications than-"

"No qualms. I'm sure you're very qualified Agent Sawyer. But some of these cases I deal with can't exactly be defined or quantified by scientific methods."

"Agent Scott, the world revolves on science. Everything that _actually exists_ can be explained scientifically."

"Ah," he simpered, opening the file folder he held. "A non-believer."

"And you are?" Peyton asked, crossing her arms. She had her beliefs aside from science, but she wasn't about to share them with a douche bag.

"I've seen things," Lucas replied, vaguely.

"So what," Peyton began walking around his office pointing to posters. "things like ghosts, aliens, Bigfoot, God? Finding Jesus in a piece of toast?"

Lucas smiled indulgently, liking the fact that he was getting under her skin. "Actually, I'm kind of an atheist," he replied off handedly. Peyton spun and pinned him with an incredulous stare.

"Wu-wait, you don't believe in God, but…you believe in Bigfoot?"

"Well it sounds ridiculous when _you_ say it, but yeah pretty much," Lucas responded dryly. Peyton couldn't keep herself from rolling her eyes.

"Okay," He stood and walked over to her. "Give me your expert medical opinion on this then." She took the file he handed her and opened it.

"Pretty standard series of kidnappings. Bodies of the victims are found a week later…." she summarized, clinically. The case was pretty brutal. The victims all seemed to be random, varying ages and both male and female, all of whom would turn up later spread eagle in a field, with their bodies bled. "It's seems like a cult killing. I see nothing supernatural about this," she concluded.

"Isn't there?"

She glanced up at him with a frown, at his monotonous query and flipped the page, cringing internally at the crime scene photos. Female agents were expected to cry at the drop of a hat. And she'd known some fellow agents who couldn't walk away fast enough and ended up crying in front of a room full of male agents. No one wants to get partnered with a basket case crybaby.

Lucas was reading her face closely and saw her brows furrow. "It gets better," he said off handedly, walking back to his chair. She read through the file, shut it then looked up at Lucas who was once again playing the dare devil on his chair.

"Aliens?" she scoffed.

"How did you know?" He asked this quite innocently and it rankled her.

"Lucas any Star Trek nerd would equate unidentified objects in a human being that could just as easily be shrapnel, by the way, with implants and alien abductions."

"So you're saying…it's what a hoax?"

"No, not at all. I'm saying what was found in this man may have been many other things and not an implant."

"I didn't say it was an implant," Lucas said in a devil may care tone that made her want to strangle him and rip his shirt off at the same time.

"That autopsy you're reading-"

"Is incomplete," she finished looking it over more closely. "There's no Y-incision done, no plausible cause of death. Who the hell did this?"

"And that was the one Warshaw managed to wrangle away from the next town over. Oleander Wisconsin, the town these killing originally started in and the town that never asked the FBI for assistance. Warshaw, the town in these files, began loosing residents just three weeks ago. Their local law enforcement is stumped, but convinced all the answers lie where they believe the killings began."

"In Oleander Wisconsin. Agent Scott, what about Oleander's law enforcement. Why haven't they come forward if their own residents are dying?"

"Who knows. Fear, maybe they're even in on it. I don't know. But, I think you were right when you said we may be dealing with a cult."

"But, what makes this a Hill case?"

"Nobody else wanted it," Lucas shrugged. She stared at him for a moment in disbelief. He favored her with the faint lifting of one side of his mouth, a mouth she would be guiltily fantasizing about later.

He grabbed his ipod and picked up another file. "We leave tomorrow morning at seven." He turned his back on her and added over his shoulder "Oh, and bring a poncho. I hear it's a little rainy there this time of year."

Lucas stuck his earbuds back in his ears and began blasting Van Halen into his ear drums once more at such a decibel she was surprised he could still hear. And just like that she was dismissed from his presence. Confused, flustered, and a more than a bit furious, Peyton turned on her heels and walked out of the office, muttering "Poncho my ass."

In his chair Lucas watched her go through the reflection in a plaque he had on the wall. Even the reflection of her ass was hot. Damn. Once the door shut, Lucas allowed himself a smile, before wiping it from his features. Careful Scott, he warned himself. Don't form attachments. She was, after all there to spy on him.


	3. Chapter 3

"So what's your new assignment, babe? Is it interesting?" Peyton looked up from shoving food around her plate to her boyfriend of eight months. She had known Jake for five years. They'd met at Stanford and from the first day they met he'd been trying to get a date with her. She finally caved eight months ago after a particularly bad day at the office. She was happy with him for the most part. He was handsome and very kind, but he also seemed a bit nervous that she carried a gun

"Jake you know I can't get into it with you," she admonished.

"Well, I know, but you can at least tell me about your partner or if the cases are interesting."

"Interesting-Jake, it's dead people. I wouldn't really call it interesting. I have to go to Wisconsin tomorrow," she replied studiously skirting around the question of her partner. She was still seething a bit from their first encounter.

"Woah, tomorrow? That's really soon, babe. You don't get more notice?"

"Honey, these cases need to be solved in a timely manner before leads get cold, and more people start dying. "

"So you're dealing with murders?"

"That's not what I said. Damnit Jake-" Peyton rolled her eyes and looked at Jake pleadingly.

"Okay okay okay. So when will you be back? Two days?"

"Jake, I'm going there to solve a case, not to just to do the autopsy. If that was all I did, I'd spend my days at Quantico, but this is the big stuff now. This is what I went through the academy for."

"So you're actually hunting down bad guys, now," Jake responded, with a dubious look on his face. Peyton rolled her eyes once more and smirked at him.

"Honey, they didn't give me this gun cause they thought I'd look cute with it."

"Well, do you at least have a partner? It's not another female is it?" Peyton furrowed her eyebrows.

"So what if it was?"

"Jeezuz, Peyt. That's not what I'm saying and you know it. I just would feel safer to know that the person watching your back is-"

"Not having her period?" Peyton replied, sarcastically. It was Jake's turn to roll his eyes.

"Peyt!" They usually didn't fight this much, but for some reason her patience dipstick was running low.

"It's a guy, if you must know and I guess you should be feeling sorry for him because my period starts in a week."

"Peyton, come on. Don't be like that. I'm sure you are a capable agent. I just worry about you is all."

Peyton's gaze softened and she smiled. "I know."

"So tell me about this guy. Is he good?"

Peyton bristled. After she left his office she made it halfway to the elevator before she realized in the heat of their argument she had called him Lucas. What on earth made her address him with such familiarity she didn't know. There was something about this guy that made her drop her walls and act….unprofessionally…..And think bad thoughts.

"He's an asshole," she said quickly, not looking up from her plate. "Not that way, just in an 'I'm smarter than you' sort of way."

"Well, lemme know if I need to kick this guy's ass."

Peyton laughed and at Jake's pout she laughed some more. Jake had a few pounds on Lucas, but Lucas was taller and he looked quick. Plus he carried a gun. Jake wouldn't have a chance.

"Sweetie, that's very cute of you, but I don't think he's going to need an ass kicking. And if he does, I'll administer it."

"That I believe. So really how long do you think this'll take?" Peyton sighed.

"I don't know, Jake. It could be a week it could be two, maybe three. It all depends on how well Agent Scott and I work together. How quickly and efficiently we can solve this thing."

"Agent Scott?"

"Oh, um my partner. Agent Lucas Scott."

"Well, this Scott guy better take care of you." Peyton sighed a shrugged off the irritation she felt.

"I can take care of myself," she murmured, quietly.

"I know, I know," he stood up, taking his plate with him. "You done?"

Peyton nodded and handed him her plate. She'd barely touched her dinner. She was nervous about this new assignment. She felt she was not only being asked to spy, but to bring down one of the best analysts in the bureau. And Agent Scott didn't seem blind to the fact that there was essentially a conspiracy against him.

"Hey babe, you ready to turn in?" Jake asked. Peyton looked up at him and stood.

"Oh, I'll be in there in a bit. I just want to go over these files once more before I leave tomorrow morning."

"Okay, but I want some time with you before you go off for God knows how long."

"I know. I'll be in in a minute. Okay?"

Jake nodded and went into the bedroom to get ready for bed. Peyton watched him disappear into her bedroom and looked down at the files in her lap. The victims were all essentially exsanguinated from what appeared to be several cuts on the bodies. She needed to perform another autopsy on the bodies available to them. It would be hard to come to anything concrete with most of the bodies already buried and the bogus autopsies given to them.

It was most definitely a bizarre case and she wondered what it was about it that got it passed down to Agent Scott. Agent Scott. Her mind wondered to the cocky, full lipped, blue eyed agent.

He didn't seem particularly crazy or off his rocker, aside from believing in Bigfoot and absurd things like that. But, there was a definite glint behind those sharp aqua eyes. Eyes you could loose yourself in, that seemed to read everything about her. No wonder he was such a good profiler.

Jake appeared in the doorway and leaned casually against it. Looking thoughtful, he pointed his toothbrush at her and asked, "You're partner's name is Scott right? Isn't Scott the name of the director?"

Peyton paused a moment, the names suddenly clicking in her mind. "Well….Yes. Dan Scott," she furrowed her brows and glanced back at Jake, wondering why she hadn't thought of it before. She had heard somewhere that Lucas Scott was related in some way to someone high up in the bureau. She hadn't even thought about his being related to the director.

"I doubt there's a relation," she said with uncertainty. But if he was related to the director then why was she being assigned to debunk Agent Scott's work?

She raised a questioning brow at Jake. "Hey how did you know that anyway?"

Jake shrugged. "I'm a journalist. It's my business to know things."

He disappeared back into her bedroom and Peyton looked back down at the crime scene photos and sighed. This new assignment just keeps getting better and better, she thought to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Not a big fan of planes huh?" Peyton looked over at Agent Scott who was looking at her sideways with a raised eyebrow and winced inwardly. Damn those intuitive blue eyes that missed nothing. She supposed that included the death grip she had on the armrests as the plane had made its bumpy landing.

They had been driving silently for a while. In fact it was the first words he'd spoken to her since they'd met at the airport earlier that morning and it rankled her that those were the ones he chose to utter when he finally decided to speak.

"Not really," she replied, shortly. "But especially when landing in one piece doesn't seem like a main objective to the pilot. Warshaw PD should be three miles from here according to this map."

Lucas couldn't help grinning at her sarcasm and offered a quiet "Yes ma'am" under his breath.

Peyton frowned, feeling like he was making fun of her. She turned to regard his face which had already melted from his grin back into a Zen-like mask of calm, betraying nothing. This was half of his appeal. Even with all the rumors and knowledge of the work he did and how he did it, Lucas Scott was still very much shrouded in mystery. He was the mysterious bad boy that all the female staff and some of the male wanted to 'fix.' But there was also something about his demeanor that screamed loner. Lucas Scott was an island and it was clear he didn't expect or accept many visitors.

But Peyton herself was much the same way having lost her mother at a tender age, she and her father had moved around from town to town. There was never time to make friends, she was always the new kid, and the shadow of her mother's death followed her everywhere. Peyton wore black for most of her youth and adolescence.

She stared at him a moment longer. "You have a theory," she stated. Lucas raised his eyebrows noncommittally and glanced at her.

"Have I?"

"Yes you do," Peyton responded, raising her own eyebrow at him challengingly. Peyton Sawyer was no stranger to living life on her own little island so she was trying to cut this guy some slack, but he was making it really hard.

Impressed, Lucas's lips curled upward slightly and he put his eyes back on the road.

"I have a few theories," he said finally after pulling into the Warshaw police station. "I'll let you know when I think you're ready to hear them."

With that he got out of the car leaving Peyton gaping indignantly at him. She shot out of the car and her long legs quickly caught up with his slow, loping stride.

"Hey!" she stage yelled. She really didn't want to get into a screaming match with him outside of the police department, but no one said something like that to her without hearing a piece of her mind.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lucas turned to find his pissed new partner with her hands planted firmly on her hips, upper body jutted forward, looking ready to pull out her gun and shoot him where he stood, and couldn't help but feel a little turned on. This in turn made him feel mad.

He couldn't afford to let this woman get under his skin the way she was. When he had gone home the day before he'd played a fierce game of basket ball with the neighborhood guys and then gone home to take several cold showers to try and get Agent Sawyer's image from his mind. She's a spy, she's a spy, he kept telling himself. He can't fall for the spy and he certainly can't fuck the spy as much as he would like to.

Lucas took two intimidating steps closer to her barging into her personal space. "Oh, well _Peyton_, I don't usually let spies in on every little thing that is going on through my head," Lucas explained in a low voice, using her first name as she'd used his the day before. He shoved his face closer to hers and added a sarcastic and half hearted, "sorry."

He fully expected her to back down, but found himself once more surprised by Agent Sawyer when she herself took a step closer bringing herself so close that their noses bumped and replied. "I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but believe me when I say that I am here to solve this case. Just like you."

Lucas's eyes flicked to her lips and then back up into her large green eyes full of conviction and felt his level of respect and attraction for the little spy grow. Dammit!

"Fine," he conceded. He stepped back, slowing his quickened pulse and sighed. He was being an even bigger asshole than he usually was with this new partner and although he felt sorry about it, it was the only way he knew to keep himself in check and to try and push her away. It was like they were children sitting in a sandbox and he relished pulling her pigtails and making her cry. But he had to admit picking fights wasn't going to help him find this killer…or killers.

They stared at one another for a moment longer, silently coming to some sort of truce. He nodded and she returned it, lightly, a movement anyone else would have missed, but not Lucas. They turned together and walked into the station, Peyton hanging back just a bit to let Lucas do the talking as the senior agent.

The deputy looked up from his desk at the approach of the two tall blondes. He stood, questioningly. They obviously weren't from around here.

"What can I do for you folks?"

"Special Agent Lucas Scott," Lucas said by way of greeting, flashing his badge at the deputy. He gestured to Peyton. "This is my partner Peyton Sawyer."

"Oh! You're the feds! You don't look the way I thought you would," he admitted, scratching his head. He had been expecting two far older _men_. These two barely looked older than his twenty four years….though not by much. And what was more, they looked like fashion models out of his girlfriends Cosmopolitan magazines. He furrowed his brows at them and asked,

"You guys from the California office or something?"

Lucas and Peyton glanced at each other and then back. Lucas replied, "nope. DC. Is the sheriff here, Deputy….?"

"Oh! Deputy Nicholas Brown," he shook both their hands. "Yes-yeah the Sheriff is here. Sorry. It's just that you weren't-"

"What you expected," Lucas finished for him, dryly. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"It's okay," he replied, making Peyton smile a little. He gestured to them. "Here follow me this way."

They got half way down the hall, before being stopped by a large, hulking man with a grizzled face and grey eyes. "Sheriff Meddleson. You two the feds?"

"Yes sir. Agents Sawyer and Scott," Lucas replied.

"Well, turn around. They just found another body."


	5. Author's note

**First of all I need to thank everyone who has been following my stories so loyally. Like many of you, a new semester of school has begun for me and it is because of this that you should know updates for Bliss, Bare Witness, and Journey will not be coming again any time soon. I'm an English major and my workload has been bumped up in this new year of classes tenfold. Consider these stories on hiatus. I will try to get little snippets to you so know that if there are updates they will be very short, although I really hate doing that. So once again, thank you for the support and sorry again!**

**Lexlady**


	6. Chapter 5

The area was already sectioned off when they arrived, the area buzzing with forensic team, police and medical officers waiting to take the body. Lights of various emergency vehicles set the gray, drizzling area alight like disco lights and as they exited their car, and passed over the police tape, Peyton couldn't help but compare the scene to a morbid dance. They walked towards the center of the party that lay underneath the stark white sheet. She was not dancing.

"No id. Woman walking her dog found the body out here, just like the others. Completely naked and spread eagle, drained of blood," one of the officers narrated as they approached.

"Officer keep those people back," Lucas ordered pointing to a gaggle of on lookers who had a clear view of what they were doing, as Peyton knelt to uncover the body. She prodded the skin with a latex covered hand, finding it stiff and clammy.

"Rigor set in a long time ago. She's been out here for at least ten, may twelve hours," she murmured over her shoulder. Lucas turned to the sheriff

"No one has reported anyone missing in the last week, sheriff?" Lucas asked, turning to the sheriff who watched Peyton's movements darkly.

"No," he replied with a sigh. No one, thank God. I don't recognize her either and I know just about everyone in town."

"She belongs to someone though," Lucas murmured to himself, looking down at the corpse. She had been pale in complexion at one time and her hair was dark and curly, making Lucas have to shake his head as he thought briefly of his mother.

"What's that?" the sheriff asked, not hearing him. Lucas shook his head and stepped away from the scene to look around the area. The ground around the victim was disturbed.

"There's some shoes prints here. Sheriff were any of your men over here?"

"No. I don't think so," he replied kneeling next to Lucas. "You think it's our perp?"

"I don't know yet," Lucas replied, looking up across the field. He thought he spied movement in the trees and stood abruptly, scanning the tree line quickly.

"What's beyond those trees, sheriff?"

"A few miles of forest. Beyond that is Oleander. It's them isn't it," the Sheriff said, looking at Lucas with certainty.

"What makes you say that, sheriff?"

"Their law enforcement is useless. Ol' Jim Delany works there. Says that town is full of nuts. People disappearing there left and right and nobody does anything about it," Meddleson growled heatedly. He pinned his steel colored eyes on Lucas and grumbled.

"I feel it in my gut, Agent Scott. The killer is there an I'll be damned if I continue to let him come here and pick off folks in my town. People here are scared. They want answers. Not more people disappearing in the night."

Lucas nodded, understandingly and glanced at Peyton who had just joined them.

"We'll keep in touch Sheriff," Lucas assured the man. He watched him walk off towards his jeep and turned to Peyton.

The baby hairs at her hair line had escaped the severe pony tail and were curling endearingly around her temples. It made her look younger and very innocent, giving Lucas the strange urge to enfold her in his arms and protect her from everything bad like a mother bird protecting her young.

"What have you got, Sawyer?"

"They're taking the body to the medical examiners office, but Scott this might not be what the sheriff thinks it is."

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked as they walked back to their sedan.

"Whoever this woman was suffered a blunt force trauma to the back of the head which is what probably killed her. There's a crack in the skull the size of a pencil, but the other bodies autopsied here, there was no conceivable cause of death outside of the exsanguination of the bodies."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning how did they get the victims from their homes to the place of the murder. These victims weren't killed in the fields, Scott. The bleedings were exact. Almost ritualistic."

"Drugged somehow?"

"I'd bet on it." Peyton replied. "There's probably a puncture wound somewhere on the bodies."

"Why didn't the coroner pick that up?"

"They're small holes and they were probably hidden between the folds of a finger, underside of the arm. They're easy to miss."

"Was this victim bled the same way as the other?"

"Well I have to do the autopsy to be sure, but from the places of the cuts on the body, it appears so."

Lucas squinted his eyes, thoughtfully and shook his head. "I don't think this was a copycat," he said after a moment. He started the car up and pulled away from the crime scene.

"I mean think about it, I doubt the public knows the graphic details of the crimes and I can bet you money the cuts placed on that body will match every other victim before her."

"Then why the deter from their previous M.O? Are they trying to throw us off?"

"Maybe. I believe this woman was killed to hide something. We find out who she is. We'll know what. There's a common thread between all of these victims and we need to find it. Are any of the other bodies available?"

"I don't know," Peyton answered breathlessly. It was as though Lucas was suddenly turned on. His face was still a mask of calm, but there was now an intensity behind his eyes that thrilled her. This intensity and brilliance was what made Lucas Scott a legend.

"Why?"

"If they aren't, someone is gonna have to make them available. I want you to autopsy the other bodies as well for punctures and any other clues that the coroner may have missed."

"You don't trust the coroner's report?"

"You said it yourself, Sawyer. That autopsy was completely doctored."

"Yes, but that autopsy was from Oleander, not Warshaw."

Lucas gave her a wry look. "At this point I don't trust much of anything we've been given. Do you?"

Peyton couldn't disagree. Things had gotten exponentially weirder with the appearance of this new body. She sighed.

"Okay, although I can't imagine anyone will be happy with this. Especially the coroner and including the families of the victims."

"We didn't come here to make friends, Sawyer," Lucas stated, cocking a corner of his mouth upwards to soften the statement.

"So what are you going to do?" Peyton wanted to know. Lucas made a show of looking up at the bleak sky and said, jovially.

"It's a nice day for a drive. I think I'll mosey down to Oleander and say howdy to the sheriff."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone,**

**A whole lot of stuff has happened in the past couple months. I graduated from college, I turned 27, and my computer crashed taking all of my written work including chapters I was working on for Bliss, Journey, and Bear Witness.**

**I have been looking for jobs and trying to figure out what to do with my writing since December and neither of those things are going as I'd hoped. I have also lost a lot of interest in One Tree Hill. The show for me is substandard despite all of our LP dreams coming true.  
**

**I think it is simply time for me to go out there and get my life started; find my own love story. I was also disconcerted when I recieved a review for Bliss from a person who I believe might have been underage. As you know some of my material is pretty graphic in its smut and it just doesn't sit well with me that young people are reading it.**

** I cannot tell you how sorry I am that I will not be finishing these projects, and I cannot express how thankful I am to all of the fans who have taken the time to review and stick with me for so long. I feel like I've let you down as you have all been so patient with me. So, perhaps I can somehow remedy this by offering up my stories to anyone who would like to take them on. I could edit and give you ideas. If anyone is interested please contact me. If not, well....Its been awesome.**

**Best,**

**Laura aka Lexlady  
**


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